Martin Niemöll
The current news from a significant number of American college campuses is reminiscent of a time in the 1960s when there were widespread campus protests over American involvement in a seemingly endless war in Southeast Asia.
This time, college campus protestors (some of whom may not be students at the colleges where they are protesting) are not protesting a long and ultimately futile war.
It’s time to call these present-day protesters what they are not and what they are.
They are not anti-war protesters. They do not acknowledge or condemn the role of Hamas (first designated as a terrorist organization in 1997 by the U.S. State Department) in launching the current and ongoing war in a long history of wars between Hamas and Israel.
They do not acknowledge Hamas started this war on October 7, 2023, when they killed an estimated 2,000 innocent Israeli civilians, including children; and took 250 hostages, some of whom have died in captivity and some of whom are still being held captive (as this is written).
Today’s campus protesters are rabidly antisemitic who support the goals of Hamas – reject the right of Israel to exist, drive Jews from Gaza, erase Israel as a nation, and by extension challenge the principles and values of western society.
Those who defend their actions base their defense in part on American constitutional rights on freedom on assembly and freedom of speech.
That defense is absurd.
American constitutional rights do not defend verbal harassment, threats, and inflicting physical harm on Jews, Jewish students, supporters of Israel, or anyone else.
These rights do not defend illegally occupying buildings and grounds on college campuses to disrupt learning and related school activities such as graduations.
Colleges should never permit or tolerate any advancement of antisemitism under the guise of freedom of speech and freedom of assembly.
It’s time for public officials and college administrators to walk their talk on their historical and often stated deep commitment to the principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
One way to accomplish that is to share widely the following story of Martin Niemöller, a theologian and minister in Germany before, during, and after World War II.
Before the war, Niemöller, like many Germans, resented how Germany was treated after World War I. Niemöller was active in antisemitic political parties and organizations. He was enthusiastic about the rise to power of Adolf Hitler and voted for the Nazi party in 1933.
Early on during World War II he was aware of the Nazi’s persecution of other Europeans, but he remained silent. Niemöller was especially supportive of persecution of members of political movements with whom he disagreed.
Later during the war, Niemöller helped launch a new church denomination that opposed the Nazification of German protestant churches. That led to his being sent to a concentration camp for seven years where he narrowly avoided being executed.
Following the war, Niemöller went on a speaking tour throughout Germany. On that tour, he acknowledged and expressed great remorse over the impact of his own inaction on and indifference to the fate of victims in the holocaust.
Niemöller included the following remarks in his presentations about the German Nazis:
“First, they came for the communists. I did not speak out because I was not a communist.
Then, they came for the socialists. I did not speak out because I was not a socialist.
Then, they came for the unionists. I did not speak out because I was not a unionist.
Then, they came for the Jews. I did not speak out because I was not a Jew.
Then, they came for me, and there was no one left to speak out for me.”
Over the years Niemöller varied the names of the groups the Nazis came for prior to coming for him. Sometimes he mentioned all the above groups and other times he selectively replaced them with others such as people with mental and physical disabilities, and Jehovah’s Witnesses. That was the universe he was aware of at that time.
Today, our list could include the same groups plus other ethnic groups, the elderly, children, progressives, conservatives, liberals or virtually any readily identifiable group in our society.
Regardless of using his original list, a revised list, or a combination list from both, Niemöller’s overall message is as important today as when he first delivered it.
Another message that is as important today as when first expressed by philosopher George Santayana who warned “Those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it.”
It is my hope that sooner rather than later, college students, college leaders, elected officials and the American public will become more aware of and learn from Niemöller’s history with antisemitism and will also heed Santayana’s warning.
The messages from both are simple yet profound and timely.
We must not be silent, indifferent, or inactive in response to hatred whenever it is directed at any of the groups identified above; plus any others I may have inadvertently missed.
Likewise, we must accept if we do not learn from history, we are condemned to repeat it.
David Reel is a public affairs and public relations consultant who lives in Easton.
Kim Cassady says
Your comments are right on the mark. Every supporter of justice and fairness must work to stop these lawless actions. To this I include all who allow these activities to continue, namely university administration and boards.